Shattered
by pumpkinnubbin
Summary: After the events of Penance, Kate needs to take her mind off and finds herself in the music room. As she is playing, Nikola passes by and decides to join the song.


_All I'm saying is tat I wish there would have been more Kate/Tesla interaction in the show. I mean.. just imagine it. Now you want it too, right? Good.  
__This sets after Penance; the song used is Shattered by Trading Yesterday (the MTT version). Drop me a line to let me know what you thought._

* * *

Kate still wasn't doing too good, the events of the past days all but haunting her mind her body. She had been shot, nearly died and had found out what really had happened to her father. It all seemed too much to take in at once for the young woman and she had let it out that night.

Two days had passed since then and she was walking around the Sanctuary again already too, the pain of the movements dying down slowly. She had been sitting at her favourite window a couple of times, thinking and simply watching the city. Not this time though. This time it had drawn her to another room in the building. One she hadn't been using at all before. The music room. It was quite big, a piano standing in one corner and she smiled when she spotted a guitar. She hadn't been playing in ages.

Once she had taken it and checked if everything was alright, she sat down and started playing quietly. She played through a couple of songs, never quite settling on one until a good half an hour later.

* * *

In the meantime, Nikola was walking through the Sanctuary aimlessly, having arrived a couple of hours prior. He had just wanted to come by without making much of a fuss, especially for the wine cellar. He had just been there though, Helen now missing a couple of bottles from her inventory but now he was bored. Henry wouldn't let him work with him on whatever it was he was doing and Helen had told him she'd kick him out if he made any trouble. As much as that wouldn't bother him usually, he did want to stay for a bit longer.

He was just passing by a room when he heard a somewhat familiar voice coming from it, along with guitar music. He stopped and went to lean against the door frame for a bit, listening wordlessly.

Kate didn't notice him, sitting with her back towards the door and far too much into what she was doing at the moment, singing softly. Tesla watched her quietly, not having had much of an interaction with the young woman before but he found himself somewhat captivated by the song and her voice.

_"And finding answers_  
_Is forgetting all of the questions we called home_  
_Passing the graves of the unknown._

_As reason clouds my eyes, with splendor fading_  
_Illusions of the sunlight_  
_And the reflection of a lie will keep me waiting_  
_Love gone for so long"_

He frowned a bit, having heard about what had happened with Jimmy and Kate and the circumstances around the entire thing. He hadn't heard the song before but it seemed fitting for the moment. Before Nikola knew what he was doing, he was making his way to the piano close to where Kate was sitting. He remained out of sight as the young woman kept her eyes closed during the play. There was a brief pause in her playing and he used it to join her with the piano. Only then did Kate look up and recognized him and his company, going back to her task. He didn't look at her as he played, not caring either.

_"And I've lost who I am_  
_And I can't understand_  
_Why my heart is so broken_  
_Rejecting your love_  
_Without love gone wrong_  
_Lifeless words_  
_Carry on_

_But I know_  
_All I know_  
_Is that the ends beginning_

_Who I am from the start_  
_Take me home to my heart_  
_Let me go_  
_And I will run_  
_I will not be silenced_

_All this time spent in vain_  
_Wasted years_  
_Wasted gain_  
_All is lost_  
_Hope remains_  
_And this war's not over_

_There's a light_  
_There's the sun_  
_Taking all the shattered ones_  
_To the place we belong_  
_And his love will conquer"_

She was surprised that he played along and correctly at that, if improvised but she wouldn't comment on it. She hit the strings a bit harder, the sounds coming louder and echoing through the room in harmony to what he was playing. She hadn't been playing in so long and even longer since she had played with anyone else. Kate had never done it a lot, only occasionally when she either couldn't work-out or knew it wouldn't help her.

_"And I've lost who I am_  
_And I can't understand_  
_Why my heart is so broken_  
_Rejecting your love_  
_Without love gone wrong_  
_Lifeless words_  
_Carry on_

_But I know_  
_All I know_  
_Is that the ends beginning_

_Who I am from the start_  
_Take me home to my heart_  
_Let me go_  
_And I will run_  
_I will not be silenced._

_All this time spent in vain_  
_Wasted years_  
_Wasted gain._  
_All is lost_  
_Hope remains_  
_And this war's not over._

_There's a light_  
_There's the sun_  
_Taking all the shattered ones_  
_To the place we belong_  
_And his love will conquer all_

_Yes his love will conquer all."_

Nikola stopped playing then, listening to her voice and only mildly surprised when it cracked a couple of times. This clearly was an emotional thing and he almost felt ashamed for having burst into it like this. Gladly, however, Kate didn't seem to mind, had he no doubt that she would long have kicked him out of the room if she had and so he went back to watching her silently. The tunes of the guitar died down, growing quieter as she hit the last few notes.

_"Yesterday I died, tomorrows bleeding..._  
_I fall into your sunlight..."_

Kate stopped playing completely, letting the very last note hang around the room before opening her eyes again and placing the guitar aside before she looked at him.

"I apologize for intruding, Miss Freelander." Tesla said politely, his expression surprisingly soft.

"It's okay.. Thanks for playing. I didn't know you could."

"I used to play for Helen from time to time back in Oxford." He shrugged, "I could say the same about you, however."

She smiled a little, having no troubles imagining that.

"I haven't played in a while. I used to when I was younger. Before the entire abnormal thing and since I can't work out this time.. I thought maybe this would help."

"And did it?"

"Yes. It did."

He smiled politely, nodding once. It was good that it had seemed to do her some good.

"Well.. I must excuse myself again." Nikola said, getting up and walking towards the door, turning back around to look at her, "I enjoyed this quite a bit. And I'm sorry about your father."

Kate gave him a sad smile, appreciating the gesture but he left before she even had a chance to reply anything. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. He certainly seemed to have good sides. She sniffed quietly, wiping her eyes and wondering when they had started getting teary. She got up again as well, placing the guitar back to where she had taken it from before heading back to her room, feeling better; lighter.


End file.
